STRICTER RULES APPLY TO MAYORAL CAMPAIGN

Law change means contributions of $1,000 or more must be disclosed within 24 hours

Most of the money flowing into the special election for San Diego mayor will be disclosed immediately under recent changes to state and local campaign-finance laws.

The new rules require any campaign contribution of $1,000 or more be disclosed within 24 hours during the 90-day period before an election. That’s an expansion from the earlier state law that mandated such disclosures in the final 16 days of a race.

The change will apply to the Nov. 19 special election for two reasons: As of Jan. 1, the city allows individuals to contribute up to $1,000 to mayoral candidates (up from $500 last year), and there are already fewer than 90 days to the election.

That means any candidate who receives the maximum contribution of $1,000 must file a report to the City Clerk’s Office within 24 hours. This will certainly lead to more stringent reporting but also creates a constant headache for the campaigns as they try to collect money for a truncated election.

It’s already happening. Former Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, the only major candidate to announce until Wednesday, has filed 12 separate disclosures to identify $27,000 in contributions from Friday through Wednesday.

Under the old rules, Fletcher wouldn’t have had to report anything until Oct. 10 — the deadline for the first round of disclosures in the special election.

“The new law provides dramatically increased transparency by ensuring that information about individuals and entities spending money to support city candidates is immediately available to the voters in the months leading up to an election,” said Stacey Fulhorst, executive director of the San Diego Ethics Commission.

To avoid immediate disclosure, candidates can collect contributions of $999 or less. Those donations would then only be reported at the regular disclosure intervals of Oct. 10, Nov. 7 and Nov. 15.

The new rules don’t just apply to candidates. Committees created to support or oppose candidates don’t have contribution limits but must still report when donors give $1,000 or more.

The same applies to independent expenditures made by other groups such as labor unions or the pro-business Lincoln Club. If they spend $1,000 or more on a radio ad supporting a candidate, for example, it must be disclosed within 24 hours.

Political parties also must report contributions of $1,000 or more. City law allows parties to give up to $20,000 to mayoral candidates per election cycle.